Nationals' Max Scherzer wins back-to-back NL Cy Young Awards

MLB awards season is here. Take a look at all the 2017 winners. USA TODAY Sports

Max Scherzer is now on par with Clayton Kershaw, and in some ways a notch above.

The Washington Nationals ace was named Wednesday the National League’s Cy Young Award winner, tying Kershaw by winning the award for a third time. Scherzer, who went 16-6 with a 2.51 ERA and led the league with an 0.90 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched), received 27 of 30 first-place votes for 201 total points in voting conducted by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Kershaw received three first place votes for a 126 total.

The Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg, who went 15-4 with a 2.52 ERA, finished third in the race with 81 points.

AWARD WINNERS

In claiming his second Cy Young in a row, Scherzer became the 10th pitcher ever to collect at least three such awards. He also won pitching’s top prize in 2013 while with the Detroit Tigers.

“This one is special,'' Scherzer said. "When you start talking about winning three times … I can’t even comprehend it at this point in time. It’s such an unbelievable feeling and an unbelievable moment that you really won’t process it until about a year later. That’s kind of what I found.’’

Wednesday's news may be only the second most exciting development for Scherzer this offseason. He and his wife are expecting their first child, a girl to be named Brooke, in about a week.

“We’re really pumped,'' Scherzer said on the MLB Network. "We were actually thinking we might have to be in the hospital tonight. I’m glad we’re not.’’

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Scherzer was a paragon of consistency this past season, recording an ERA below 3.00 in all but one month and leading the NL with 268 strikeouts.

Though Kershaw is nearly universally regarded as the top pitcher of his generation, back injuries have sidelined him for significant stretches in the last two seasons, opening the door for Scherzer to stake his claim as the NL’s No. 1 starter.

Kershaw, 18-4 with a league-best 2.31 ERA, won the most games in the NL and finished second in WHIP (0.95) while striking out 202 in 175 innings.

But it may have been that last figure that cost him a fourth Cy Young, a total achieved only by Roger Clemens (seven) and Hall of Famers Randy Johnson (five), Steve Carlton and Greg Maddux (four each).

Kershaw sat out five weeks while recovering from a back strain and threw 175 innings, compared to 200 2/3 for Scherzer, who missed two starts with a neck injury. The difference is roughly equivalent to four starts of six innings each.

When healthy, Kershaw was his usual magnificent self, adding a fifth ERA title to his sparkling resume and also leading the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 6.73 as he helped the Los Angeles Dodgers fashion the best record in baseball.

Although Scherzer has matched Kershaw's Cy Young collection, he opted to leave it up to others to determine whether he has ascended to Kershaw's exalted echelon.

"If I want to be an MLB analyst, I'll go work for MLB Network,'' Scherzer said. “It doesn’t matter to me. Whether I am or not won’t change my goals for 2018, and my only goal for 2018 is to be a better pitcher than I was in 2017.’’